The Episode
by azirainbow
Summary: Whoever said that James Potter would only ever love Lily Evans? Of course there was someone else! Here is the story...cheating, dumping and obsession included! Please read & review!
1. The Attraction

The Episode - _The Attraction_

The drink was starting to set in. The room was slowly revolving around James Potter as he tried to right himself. It would not do to be seen falling over due to alcohol; people might actually laugh at him. That wouldn't do at all, people laughed **at **geeks like Snape, not him. Everyone laughed **with **him when he took the piss of saddos, Snape and generally annoying people. James stumbled out of the cool dormitory onto the stairs, intending to make his way to the Gryffindor common room. He could vaguely hear the 'ewwws' and 'yucks' floating up to him, signifying that someone had been sick due to excessive alcohol consumption. At least I'm not in that state James thought, hoping the events would take the focus off his less-than-controllable manner. As he made his way downstairs, he spotted a girl. Venus Verticordia her name was, he recalled. She was very pretty, although she had a reputation for 'passing herself around' and cheating on various boyfriends. Still, she was nice. Very nice. As James approached, Venus looked up and smiled at him. He smiled back. Then she spoke, 'Hi, James. You enjoying the party?' It took a few seconds for the question to filter through to James' brain. 'Erm, yeah it's great thanks!' he eventually replied, extremely conscious of what a fool he was making of himself. 'What are you doing up here?' he added, wondering why she wasn't getting off with some boy somewhere. 'Well, I was waiting for you,' Venus said, adjusting her hairstyle. 'Thought you were looking lonely…'

She leaned forward, showing James quite clearly her cleavage, squashed into a overly-small top. James' head reeled - was Venus coming on to him??? This sort of behaviour he was not used to. Admittedly, although he liked to think that he was a hit with the ladies, this was not true, and, as Lily Evans had said just last year, they'd rather go out with the Giant Squid. In fact the Giant Squid excuse was becoming increasingly common, too common for coincidence in some ways. Conspiracy theories aside it was suspicious. But Lily… The thought of Lily made James' stomach lurch, or perhaps more squirm, as if butterflies were fluttering inside him. The damsel in distress he could never quite rescue. He, a knight in shining armour, there to sort out everyone's problems in the search for happily ever after endings could not conquer the damsel of his dreams. Why? Because she was unreachable. _She can do better than you, _he thought.

He looked back at Venus. She was looking at him in a weird sort of way, sort of seductive-like, though with his experience he was probably wrong. Venus leaned forward and whispered into James' ear, 'I really like you, James…' She leant forward further and kissed James' neck softly, a small shiver crossing his body, a shiver of anticipation, of expectancy. They found each others lips and caressed slowly, each kiss taking an eternity to unfold. Eventually they broke off, staring into each others eyes, passion alight in each. James smiled, she was a good kisser he thought and she was a beautiful goddess. But what about Lily? James felt guilty instantly. He'd betrayed her, kissed someone else. What if she found out? Would she think he wasn't interested in her any more? But, James reasoned, he wasn't going to get her anyway, and it's not like he wanted a long term relationship with Venus like he wanted with Lily - just a quick fix for a desperate hormonal teenager. Not like he wanted to admit it he was desperate…

The next morning James woke with a groan. He head was banging painfully, particularly behind his eyes. 'Good night James?' enquired a voice behind him. James turned round with another painful groan to see Sirius, eyebrow raised, looking disapprovingly at his face. 'Was alright…probably drank a little too much…'

'A little too much? You ended up rolling on the floor laughing hysterically! And according to all reports you were snogging Venus Verticordia! I mean, what possessed you to do that? She's a slut James!'

'A slut who happens to be very pretty and an extremely good kisser. I also seem to remember that you went out with her just 2 months ago. She dumped you for Janus Thickey after a week.'

'Yeah, after cheating on me. I don't want to see you get hurt like I did James.'

'I won't get hurt. I only wanted a quick snog. It's not like I want to go out with her like you did.'

A few days later, James was feeling confused. His feeling for Venus were increasingly…well, he was more attracted to her. He was starting to get the same butterflies in his stomach as he got with Lily and constantly found his mind turning to think about Venus instead of everything else he should be doing. During Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, you name it he was thinking about her. Her soft lips, her delicate touch, her beautiful eyes, with the look that makes you instantly fall under her spell. _And that's what I'm under, a spell, _James thought, _but what kind of spell? The spell of love, desire, passion…all of those things mixed together?_

James could not work out how he felt about Venus. She was definitely the Goddess of Love, as the tales of mythology said. Mind you, she wasn't exactly the Goddess of Chastity as her last name suggested. Quite the opposite, going by her reputation…But then, James reasoned, if he was to go out with her it would be different. She wouldn't cheat on him like she had with the other 3 guys she had gone out with in the last 2 months, because she would actually like him. He had seen it in her eyes when they kissed, that attraction of two lost souls. He would trust her 100, treat her like an angel, there was no way she'd cheat on him. In essence, he was way too attractive to women for that to happen. Definitely too attractive…

James plucked up his courage the next day, the end of the Easter holidays and the start of yet another term at Hogwarts. Another extremely difficult term no doubt, full of overlarge amounts of homework and unfortunate detentions. But that's life, James was not going to stir himself to do the work…and the detentions could be eaten by the Giant Squid for all he cared. He found Venus smoking outside the greenhouses, exactly where he expected. He'd tasted the tobacco in her mouth and on her breath when they'd kissed. It had tasted unusually sweet, as if it wasn't tobacco at all. Venus was a rebellious student, smoking wasn't allowed in the school grounds (except by the teachers of course, they were always the bloody exception to rules) and James doubted very much McGonagall would approve of her supposed behaviour outside of lessons.

There Venus was, her beautiful chestnut-brown, shoulder-length hair flowing over the curve of her neck. James paused, he felt like there was a large lump in his throat, preventing him from speaking. She drew a drag from her cigarette and looked up. 'Oh, hi James!' She smiled. 'Don't usually see you round here!'

'Erm, well I came to see you…' James stuttered, once again aware he was making a fool of himself…a great fool. Venus' smile faded slightly. 'Why do you want to see me?' She looked worried now as if she'd done something wrong. 'Look, if it's about the other night, I'm really sorry. You see, I've already got a boyfriend, I was drunk and I shouldn't have gone with you, I didn't know what I was doing. I'm really sorry.' She said those words in a rush, as if she'd been waiting to say them for days, but needed the right moment. James felt his heart being crushed. And his ego. And probably his entire body as well. 'James?' Venus' voice rang through James' brain vaguely. 'What's wrong?' rang the voice once more. James looked up. 'Well…' he stammered once more trying to keep calm and not blush , although he knew his efforts were fruitless. 'I was just wondering if you'd go out with me, but since you have a boyfriend it obviously wouldn't work…' his voice trailed off to silence.

Venus looked at him for a second, then smiled. 'James, I would love to go out with you. I really really love you…I'll dump Janus to be with you, you're the only guy I've ever truly loved. Honest to god, I'll never cheat on you like I did with those other worthless boyfriends.' James felt only momentary annoyance about his best friend being called 'worthless' before he embraced Venus and fell into the dark passion that enveloped them.

_I've been making slight improvements to the story, changing sentences and such. Also turns out my beta(s) weren't so good whenever I first wrote this, so I'm also attempting to wheedle out typing mistakes:o Hope it will be better than it was anyway! Reading this again I find myself impressed with my own writing, albeit slightly worried about the amount of swearing present.  
_

_azi (Please read and review, or just read, I don't mind. :) )  
_


	2. The Arguments

The Episode - _The Arguments _

James was busy doing his Potions homework in the dormitory. Or at least pretending to do it. In reality he couldn't be arsed with the whole thing - he'd pass his exams with extreme ease when he came to them and it's not as if exams mattered anyway. They were only bits of paper saying you survived pointless duress and stress. All anyone did around exam time was forget they ever had a social life and remain sober. No way was he going to remain sober. He would drink just as much as usual, destroy his liver and possibly fit due to alcohol poisoning in the process. Nothing wrong with that. After all, some of the best philosophers were alcoholics…according to Monty Python. James quietly hummed the Philosophers' Song under his breath, until the slam of the dormitory door distracted him with a jolt.

James turned round to see an angry looking Sirius. 'What's wrong?' he asked idly. 'Has McGonagall given you another detention?' Sirius growled in a typically dog-like way before scowling. 'No, she hasn't. Which is bloody lucky considering the position you left me in! If you hadn't run away I might not have had to think so bloody hard in my feet and make up some obvious crap to get me out of trouble!'

'Well, what did you expect me to do? Stand around and freely admit I was wrong. No way am I doing that Sirius. I have pride.'

'A pride along with an ego which needs to be brought down a mountainside,' Sirius muttered under his breath. He glanced at James, who was smiling to himself absently. 'What's made you so happy?'

James was startled at being interrupted, 'Me? Oh, I've just got a girlfriend that's all.' He grinned.

Sirius looked taken back. 'What? Who'd want to go out with you?'

'Venus Verticordia.'

'WHAT? James, what did I say just a few days ago about her?'

'Summat about her being a slut and that she'd cheat on me?'

'Oh, so you do have a brain? Or is it just temporary amnesia that makes you forget I, your best friend, went out with her and she cheated on me. She's a bitch!'

'No she's not. Just because she's cheated on people before, it doesn't mean she'll cheat on me!'

'What makes you so different from other people? It's not like you're anything special, James.'

'We actually like each other Sirius. I trust her 100 and that's not going to change! I've never felt this way about someone before.'

'What happened to "I only wanted a quick snog" then? What happened to the fact it was a drunken one-nighter? What happened to you telling me that you didn't want to go out with her?'

'Things change. I can't stop thinking about her and she can't stop thinking about me. She's broken up with Janus Thickey to be with me, and he's really good looking! I must have something special about me if she did that. I'm not like you Sirius. I can't pull girls on a whim. I have to work for it.'

'What about Lily then? You can't just have stopped fancying her. You've like her since the first time you met.'

'Lily's stupid, pointless and pathetic. I was stupid to like her. She'll never like me back and she'd probably be no good in bed anyway. Venus, on the other hand, is a girl of experience and therefore will be better than any girl you've ever had.'

'She'll cheat on you and then dump you James. I don't want to see you get hurt.'

'I'm not going to get hurt because she won't cheat on me. And I don't see why it's any of your business anyway! It's up to me and Venus if we go out and you don't have any right to say anything! You're just jealous because for once I got a girl instead of you! I'm fed up of people intervening my life. It's my choice what I do Sirius!'

'Yes, it is your choice what you do with your life James. I would have just thought that with my being your best friend you would have listened to my opinions, realising that I don't want to see your life get fucked up.'

With that, Sirius turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. James was left alone, feeling angry, as though he'd just had a bust up with Snape. How dare Sirius reprimand him for what he did with his own life! Did he not realise that he knew perfectly well what Venus had done in the past? He knew her mistakes. But she would never do that to him. They cared about each other and perhaps in time the care would turn to love. Scrap that, it would turn to love. They were meant to be and that was final.

A few days and much snogging with Venus later and Sirius was still not talking to James. James didn't really care. Venus had told him she didn't want him hanging around with Sirius anymore because he was an immature twat, who only wanted girls for sex. She'd also told him he shouldn't hang around Lily, evidently as he'd once fancied her Venus saw her as a threat. James didn't mind, he was happy to do as his beautiful lover wished. His feelings of care for her increased everyday and he particularly looked forward to their strolls around school, kissing each other gently whenever they could. It gave James a feeling of importance and status. He felt as if he was better than everyone in the school because he had a girlfriend he could show off and parade. Snape didn't have a girlfriend. Nor did half the guys in the school and this gave James an immense feeling of satisfaction. They weren't mature or sophisticated enough to have a girlfriend. He, on the other hand, was. He alone could triumph in the field of girl-getting, he alone could hold on to a previously promiscuous woman. And that he could be proud of.

Unfortunately it wasn't as easy to avoid Sirius as James wanted it to be. They had most of their lessons together, they sat together in them and they shared a dormitory. Therefore, it wasn't long before another argument arrived. Not long at all. Sirius was working on the revision of summoning charms in a lesson, while James was busy doodling a page of pictures about Venus, He drew a snitch and etched the initials 'VV' onto it. It looked pretty, he thought. Much better than 'LE' anyway. There was a sort of symmetry to it…

Sirius grunted. 'Aren't you going to do any work?'

'I know it all already. I'm not thick. I'll sail through the charms exam no problem.'

'Not if you don't do any work you won't.'

'Obviously you've changed. You use to prefer lazing around just like me.'

'That was before I realised I need to be able to earn money in the future, and to earn money you need good grades.'

'I have inheritance. I'll be fine. Venus can work anyway, she's well intelligent.'

'Venus? Oh, how are you and her going?' Sirius said the phrase with a mock tone of concern. He obviously didn't really care. So James decided to give him the details.

'Brilliant thank you. The snogging's good, she's good and life is generally good. I can't believe I ever went after Lily. It was a complete waste of my life!'

'So the snogging is why you're avoiding me. Oh no wait, it's because she told you to keep away from me isn't it?'

'So what if she did?'

'She's got you wrapped around her little finger James.'

'No she hasn't. I'm in perfect control of my life at last. I don't need you to tell me what to do. I care about her and there's nothing you can do about it.'

'You're a fucking love sick puppy James. It's disgusting.'

James was spared having to answer the comment by the ringing of the bell. He shoved his pencil case and parchment into his bag and stalked from the room.


	3. The Beautiful One

The Episode - _The Beautiful One_

James sat on under the beech tree, his arms wrapped lovingly around Venus. Although smoking a cigarette, she was a beautiful as ever, her beautiful brown eyes roaming around the grass, taking in the sunset . _I might start smoking_, he thought. _That would impress her, probably make her like me even more. We'd share another common interest. Along with music, alcohol, sex and…and love. _ Venus flicked her cigarette away and snuggled further into James' chest. His stomach gave a leap and instantly he felt elated, ecstatic, euphoric. He was on top of the world! How stupid Sirius was to think that Venus would ever hurt him! She was perfect, she was beautiful, she was a goddess. And he would never let her go.

Days passed. James couldn't stop thinking about her. She was there in his dreams, his waking life, his afterthoughts and generally in his mind. When he saw her in the corridor and she didn't hug him, he'd feel depressed and down, but just a minute later she'd blow him a kiss from the line for Transfiguration and life was good again. Venus was just teasing him, and he liked being teased. She fascinated him, enthralled him, entranced him. They would be together forever, forever and a day more likely.

Oh course, there were trials in love. As James was about to find out. Venus approached him, her beautiful body clad in the ugly Hogwarts uniform. Uniform should be banned James thought. They didn't let you admire the feminine beauty of the one you love. She was right in front of him. 'Erm, James. I need to talk to you. No, don't speak, it's easier for me just to say this. Erm, I was drunk the other night, and…well, I kinda cheated on you…look I'm really sorry, I still love you, I really do. It was an honest mistake. I didn't know what I was doing.' James felt as if his world was falling apart around him, he felt sick, he felt betrayed. He couldn't quite believe it. Was she teasing him like usual? Her expression was serious though. Usually there was a pretty little twinkle in her eye… 'Wha'? I don't understand, are you joking?'

'No, I'm serious. I'm really sorry James, I don't want to hurt you.'

'Ok…well, what made you do it? I don't understand…I mean, I would never cheat on you…I suppose. Who did you go with?'

'Janus Thickey.'

James gulped the cold air, feeling his voice break as he spoke, 'You still do love me don't you?'

'Yes, I love you more than anything in the world.'

_She said it. She said she loved me more than anything in the world. She cheated on me yeah, but she still loves me. It was an honest mistake, she was drunk. I still love her…Maybe I'm not good enough in bed for her, maybe I need to take lessons in snogging…I mean, she cheated on Sirius and he's had loads of experience. I must be an amateur compared to him…Sirius must never find out, he'd gloat about it, pretend he's better than me when he's not. Demand an apology even. No way am I mentioning it… _James resolved to keep silent on the issue.

James walked into the dormitory. He was still somewhat shocked, but a walk in the cold outside had frozen his emotions. Sirius looked up. He had a tentative expression on his face, as if he had something to tell, which he would rather not. James had a feeling he knew exactly what that something was…

'Where have you been?' Sirius sounded nervous, perhaps because he hadn't talked to James in about a week. 'I've been with Venus.' James quickly replied. Realising he needed to account for the fact he was shivering he added, 'We went for a walk, it's a bit cold out there.'

Sirius raised an eyebrow. 'I would have thought Venus would provide enough body heat to keep you warm.'

James felt himself blush. 'She hasn't got much body fat you know. Therefore there isn't much body heat to go round.'

'Yeah, she must have so little body fat she's invisible. I saw you walking up to the entrance hall alone.'

James felt anger rise within him. 'You were spying on me? What right do you have to do that?'

'I see more than you think James. And anyway, I wasn't spying on you, I just happened to look out of the window and see you there, alone. Which means you are lying to me.'

'Just leave me alone you jealous twat.'

'Jealous? James, I'm not jealous of someone who's going out with a serial cheater. You do realise she's cheated on you, don't you?' Sirius looked a mix of angry and anxious.

James felt the heat which had temporarily disappeared in his anger flood back onto his face. 'Sirius, I've told you before, Venus would never cheat on me. I trust her. Just stop making up shit to split us up!'

'It's not shit James. And the sooner you realise that, the sooner you'll realise what she is.'

'Well, if it's true then thank you for telling me. You're a real friend.'

'No problem.' And with that Sirius yanked his four poster bed curtains shut.

'How dare he try and tell me about you cheating on me!' James was pacing around an empty classroom, bitching about Sirius and his cheek. 'He's trying to split us up I know it!'

'Just ignore him,' Venus said in her smoothest, most soothing voice. 'He's not worth the trouble. It's just his way of showing how jealous he is because you spend more time with me than him. He'll get used to it.'

She placed a delicate kiss on his cheek and made her way down to his neck. James felt the familiar fluttery sensation as her hands caressed him, making their way down his torso. Their lips met and they kissed. 'Anyway,' Venus whispered into his ear, 'I think you deserve better than him.'

Sirius was sitting next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Despite acquiring the best seats in the room through the blatant bullying of first years, he was not in the best of moods. Naturally, his mind was occupied with the problems of his best friend. Or should he say 'his once best but now non-existent acquaintance'? Remus, who was busy struggling with his Transfiguration homework, kept glancing up, sending worried glances at Sirius, whose expression made him look like he was planning murderer. Finally, Remus gained the courage to speak. 'He'll come round. He'll realise what she's doing.' Sirius scoffed, 'Only when she's hung, drawn and quartered him and left him for dead. He's obsessed Remus; I'm fed up of him! I'm not sure I'm going to even tell him about the party we're having on Saturday - he doesn't deserve to be invited. He ignores us all in the corridors, on account of Venus telling him to do so I expect, all he does is gaze at the fricking bitch continuously and when she cheats on him he doesn't believe anyone. He's totally in her possession.'

Remus put down his pen with a sigh. This comment he'd heard every day since…well he'd heard it so much he couldn't remember the first time. He prepared himself for the usual answer. 'Sirius, it's James' life. He can do what he wants. He chose to go out with her. If she cheats on him, it's their problem not ours. Eventually, he'll have to cope with the consequences of going out with her and when he does we'll be there to support him and show what real friends do.'

Sirius made a face. 'There's no way I'm helping that idiot. He deserves what he gets and he can sort it out his bloody self. He should listen to us in the first place. I told him not to go out with her. But does he listen? No, he's too bloody besotted with the slut.'

'Just leave him to it. He has to learn.'

'I don't see how you can be in love at our age anyway. No experience.'

'Stop chuntering.'

'I'm not chuntering, I'm making a point.'


	4. The Party

The Episode - _The Party_

Saturday arrived at last. Gryffindor tower geared up once more for yet another party. Somehow, James had found out about it and he was attending with Venus hanging on his arm. Sirius had a funny feeling he knew who had told him - Wormtail could never keep his mouth shut. It won't be too hard to avoid him though, and anyway if James was to actually see Venus cheating on him, and it was pretty doubtful she wouldn't, he might actually find some common sense and dump her. Then they could be friends again. In the meantime, he would forget James existed and go after some random drunk girl. Girls were so much easier when they were drunk. Sirius sighed quietly. He wished they were always so easy…

The night went on. James stumbled around, narrowly avoiding table, chairs and the empty bottles littering the floor. Venus was currently hugging all her friends, telling them she loved them and would do so forever. Of course, it was perfectly normal for people to do things like that when they were drunk. And the kissing them…well most of Venus' friends were female so it meant nothing - obviously she wasn't a lesbian if she was going out with him. James managed to reach the corner and fell next to a table, onto Rosanna Williams, a good friend of Venus. 'Ouch! James, get off me you idiot!'

'Sorry, didn't mean to do that.' James rolled over, and arranged himself next to Rosanna. 'You ok? You look kinda flushed…'

'Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit drunk. It'll wear off in a bit.'

James looked at Rosanna. Venus wouldn't mind if he kissed someone else would she? After all, she'd kissed someone else. He wanted to kiss someone. Their lips drew closer together. James could feel Rosanna's breath on his cheeks, the alcohol laced breath. Very sweet.

Suddenly, Rosanna drew away. 'What the hell do you think you're doing!' she screamed. She threw herself away from James and ran out of the room, leaving him mortified in her wake. Why the hell did he just do that? He had no idea what had come over him in that moment. Venus was staring at him, fury on her face. 'What the hell were you just doing?' she asked, her voice showing signs of rage. Her face, too, was creased with anger, her eyes glinting dangerously. James was becoming acutely aware of everyone watching him, interested to see what would happen next. Venus interrupted his thoughts. 'You were going to cheat on me weren't you? Weren't you? How the fuck do you dare? You have no fucking right to cheat on me! I'm not going out with someone who cheats on me, you're dumped!' Venus stormed off. James was in shock. He'd just lost the girl he loved, all over a stupid misunderstanding. He wouldn't have cheated on her really. It was just temptation he was fighting. Rosanna had completely over reacted. Speaking of Rosanna, where was she? He had to get to her quick, explain before the misunderstanding got completely out of hand. And to find her, he needed…

Sirius was kissing a pretty 5th year girl. She had long brown hair down to her waist, which was tied in two plaits. Accompanying this, she had beautiful wide brown eyes, delicately laced with mascara and a hint of grey eye shadow. Naturally, she was drunk, although not so drunk that she didn't know what she was doing. She knew perfectly well who she was kissing, but she was tipsy enough to have lowered inhibitions which might allow her to go further later on. Much further, Sirius was hoping. Unfortunately, the moment was rudely interrupted by the arrival of an irate looking James, his eyes filled with tears. 'Sirius, she dumped me. I almost cheated on her and she dumped me! We've got to find Rosanna!' Sirius was not pleased. James had been ignoring him and now, suddenly, he thought he had the right to interrupt him when he was busy and get him to find some girl? Well, Sirius sighed, that's what friends were for, even if the particular friend in question had abandoned them in recent weeks. He reluctantly pulled away from the girl and walked out of Gryffindor Tower to find the girl, Rosanna, or whatever her name was.

An hour later and Rosanna had still not been found. James had begun to cry more, especially after relating the story to Sirius and Remus repeatedly. Sirius had got fed up and left Remus to deal with the situation. He had no patience for cry babies, especially when they were drunk. Besides, he had better things to do with his life. Remus was sat on the bathroom floor, trying to comfort James, who had insisted on being locked in so no one could disturb his self pity. Remus hesitated and then spoke softly. 'James, it'll be ok. It's not the end of the world.' James sniffed loudly. 'Of course it is! She's the only thing that ever meant anything to me and made life worth living and I've lost her, I'm so stupid!' His eyes filled with tears once more, the salty liquid rolling down his face. 'You'll find someone else, James.' Remus soothed, hoping the situation wouldn't turn volatile like it often did with James when he was drunk. He was to be unfortunate. James swung round, his eyes flashing. ''You don't know what it's like, you're a thoughtless, memoryless, emotionless twat! Keep away from me werewolf!' He stormed out of the room, Remus didn't bother to follow.

The morning after the night before. Sirius woke up with a slight hangover to find James was already out of bed and gone. Remus was sitting reading on is bed, the frown on his face which meant he wasn't actually reading but was preoccupied with some other matter. Sirius put a sly grin on his face. It was time to bitch. Half an hour later, Sirius and Remus were in full flow about James and his ex. Sirius was happily ranting, 'So I'm thinking, like, James, you ALMOST cheated on her, she DID cheat on you, more times than you know and then its your fault you break up? You stupid, sorry, pathetic weak lovesick pleb of a man! How fucking stupid is that? How could it be HIS fault they lose trust?' Remus nodded fervently.

'I totally agree! He's so pathetic! It's like, get over it, she's not worth it!'

'I know. I'm so bloody annoyed with the twat! He had absolutely no right to call you what he did. I just want to hit him and teach him a fricking lesson!'

'He's not worth that Sirius. Just leave him.'

'I am going to leave him. For now. I'll pounce soon though, when he least bloody expects it.' Footsteps were coming up the stairs fast. Sirius and Remus fell silent. The next second, James had burst in the room.

'Venus is going out with Janus Thickey again!' he fumed. 'I've got to get her back! I still love her and she still loves me! It's not right!' Remus glanced at Sirius.

'I don't think that's a good idea James. Just let it be.' he said, simply.

James scowled. 'I still love her! I'm going to try and break her and Janus up so she'll see that she still loves me and I love her! I'm so stupid for almost cheating on her… I've got to show her she's the only one for me!' And with that, he ran out of the room, determined to do exactly what he had just declared.

Sirius looked at Remus. 'This is going to all end in tears. Suppose it has already, after last night…I'm going to enjoy watching him fall.'

Remus smiled grimly. 'So will I.'


	5. The Reconcilliation

The Episode - _The Reconciliation _

Somehow, he had done it. Somehow, James Potter had managed to find his way back into the beautiful arms of Venus Verticordia. Goddess of Hogwarts. More beautiful than the Roman goddess Venus herself, and her Greek counterpart, Aphrodite. Then there were the other counterparts of Venus - Ishtar, Ashtart, Turan. Apparently, Aphrodite had once been caught in bed with some guy called Ares with a net, at which point they were mocked by the other gods.  
He and Venus would never have that happen. Besides, there weren't any gods or goddesses other than Venus in the school to catch them. There was no one as pretty as her, nor anyone as ugly as Janus Thickey. James scowled at the thought of him. What did he think he was doing, trying to split him and Venus up? Going out with her as soon as they were apart! No matter, he was with Venus now. They would be together for ever. Previous events were just…adjustments to the fact he and Venus were one, destined to be together. James had threatened to kick Janus' head in if he tried anything with Venus ever again. Brute force and threats are sometimes the only way to deal with people when it comes to the battle to get attractive young women. All James knew was that he needed her.

Sirius was not in a good mood. Venus and James back together…it was madness! When would James realise that Venus was bad news? Cracks were beginning to form in the entire friendship circle, a circle which had been present from the very day they had all started at Hogwarts. Worse, Sirius realised, was that he was beginning to lose any respect for James. How could he respect someone so pathetic? If he didn't respect him, they couldn't be friends. Respect is an important part of friendship and he no longer had it for his one time best friend. Worse still, James was refusing to apologise to Remus for his disgusting outburst. Every time it was mentioned he gave a sort of arbitrary 'I don't really care' shrug which infuriated Sirius more than anything. Friends don't refuse to apologise for behaviour like that. They make up and explain why they did it, how the stress of the situation made them lose their temper. But not James, oh no, James is so high up on the stupid high horse of pride that he isn't going to get off it, for fear of not being able to get back on. But was it a high horse of pride? It seemed more likely, in light of the change that had come over the idiot in recent weeks, that it was more arrogance than pride. Granted, James had always been arrogant, especially when it came to Quidditch and anything remotely competitive, but this arrogance had rarely been experienced by his closest friends, especially in such intolerable doses. Remus was understandably hurt by James' comments and had taken to avoiding being in his presence, even to the point of walking away when he came near. This increased Sirius' feelings of the friendship split and it hurt him. It hurt him to lose his friends. He didn't want this conflict. Couldn't anyone see that they had all been the best of friends before Venus came along? It was all her fault. She was to blame. But what could he do? It was James' choice who he went out with and if he was really in love with her, which Sirius really doubted, then he had a right to be happy. It was just that Sirius didn't like his choice of female.

'I still can't believe you almost cheated on me James.' Venus was pouting at him as they sat around the back of the greenhouses and smoked a cigarette. 'You're going to have to make this up to me. I'm not going to forgive you quickly even with a little kiss.' James, drew himself away from kissing her slender neck. 'I'll do anything to have you, Venus. I love you, more than anything. I don't want anyone to take you away from me. I've never felt this way about anyone before. You're the one. The one I want to be with.' Venus twisted round on James' knee and smiled sweetly. 'I only want you too.' She threw away her cigarette, lent down and kissed him softly. Soon they were lost to the outside world as they embraced.

'I was so stupid Sirius, almost losing her over a stupid whim to kiss someone else. If anything, all this mess has made me realise I want her and her only. I'm never going to cheat on her again.' James was busy gossiping to Sirius during charms. Today, they were supposed to be practising the Disillusionment Charm on some objects Flitwick had brought in for the lesson, including cushions, lampshades and sticks of wood. The wood had been procured for use as poking the girls on the row in front on Sirius' part. The girls shrieked every time the wood touched them and had taken to throwing objects behind them in retaliation. James, however, seemed to be more content in telling Sirius how much he loved his girlfriend. Repeatedly. Sirius was pretending to be interested, but in reality this was just to get James comfortable before bringing him back to earth with, hopefully, an extremely large jolt. James fell silent; apparently he had just asked a question. It was time for Sirius to speak. 'You may have forgotten, but you didn't actually cheat on Venus. You merely almost cheated. Big difference.' James looked taken aback for a moment, and then said, 'Are you jealous of me and Venus?' Sirius turned to face James straight on, an incredulous look covering his face. 'What? Why would I be jealous of you and some girl?'

'Well, you're not getting laid at the moment and I am. You naturally won't be used to this because you're usually the popular one with the girls. For once, I'm the one getting the sex and you're not. Therefore, you're jealous.'

'Who's been telling you that bollocks? I can do much better than some promiscuous bitch and her assorted lovers.'

'Venus isn't promiscuous, Sirius.'

'Is she putting a Memory Charm on you, James? Or perhaps a Confundus Charm. You seem to be labouring under the delusion that your girlfriend has never cheated on you. Which, I'm going to have to remind you, is more than once.'

'She didn't mean to do those things, Sirius. She was drunk. She'd never hurt me and she'll never do it again. I wish you'd just learn to cope with the fact we're going out and deal with it. We're not going to split up, whether you want us to or not, and that's final!'

'It's all a question of proportion James. She's _slept_ with other guys at least twice in the short time you've been going out and you just take it on the chin and don't give a shit. Then, you _almost_ kiss another girl and it's suddenly it's the end of the world and a big deal. Why the hell is it OK for her to actually cheat on you, but not for you to almost cheat on her? Why?'

'Because she was drunk.'

'You were drunk when you almost kissed Rosanna. It's a completely contradictory situation James.'

'What the hell do you know about it? You don't understand the situation. Why the hell is everyone trying to split me and Venus up?'

'We're not trying to split you up. You're just acting like a twat over the whole situation. You're obsessed with Venus. You follow her around like a love sick puppy dog, roll over and beg her to take you back when she's dumped you for some stupid unsubstantiated reason. It's disgusting!'

'You're the dog Sirius. That's the form your animagus takes, not mine. You can't talk about puppies to me. Just leave me and Venus alone.'


	6. The Manipulation

The Episode - _The Manipulation_

Leave Venus and James alone Sirius did. He had no time for such childish behaviour, as was being epitomised by them. True, he sat with James in lessons, not that he had a choice, but these times were filled with awkward silence. Sirius could tell James was avoiding him - he spent barely any time in the Gryffindor common room now. He supposed James was with Venus, probably keeping a pathetic eye on her to make sure she couldn't cheat on him. Sirius had noticed over recent days that Venus was becoming increasingly hostile towards himself and Remus in the few times they came face to face. He supposed James was telling her about their attempts to point out to him that Venus' cheating was never mentioned. He was, in fact, right.

James and Venus were lounging in a disused classroom in the dungeons. They had spent the last half hour discussing who was on their side when it came to their relationship. James had come to the conclusion that he wasn't sure what his friends thought except that he knew they disapproved. Venus wanted to find out for certain who supported them but there were slight problems in finding out. 'At the end of the day,' she was saying, 'if we ask them what they think of us face to face they'll lie or ignore the question. They won't tell us what they really think. Therefore, we need to think of a way to find it out. If we know who our friends are, then we can hang around with them instead of with increasingly hostile people.' James frowned. He didn't think that anyone was on his side in this. They were probably all bitching about him behind his back right now. Bitching like the pathetic girls they are. Anyway, he didn't come into over-close proximity to the Slytherin common room to talk about those worthless idiots. He came to get lots of snogging time. And snogging he wanted. He'd had way too stressful a day to be talking about people he didn't give a shit about. Unfortunately snogging was not what Venus wanted at that current moment in time. She was continuing to talk. 'I've been thinking James. Your friends really don't like me, in fact they hate me. Didn't you see the way Sirius looked at me the other day? I could see the hatred in his eyes. The thing is, I don't think I can continue to be your girlfriend with that sort of hostility towards me.' James started and swung his head from looking at the floor to look at her. Her beautiful face, the worried eyes. 'You want to break up with me because my friends don't like you?' James whispered softly. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. His stupid, worthless friends had come in the way of him and the girl he cared about most in the world. She was about to dump him because of them! He had to dissuade her.

'Look, Venus, I really, really, love you. I don't want to lose you. I'll do anything, anything to be with you. Please, I don't care about my 'friends'. If they were my friends then they would've supported me over this, said I deserved to be happy. Instead they told me I was wrong to go out with you and won't stop dissing you. I don't need people like that to be my friends. I need you. What can I do to stay with you?' Venus studied the dungeon floor for a few seconds, and then looked into James' eyes. 'Well there is one thing…' A small smile appeared on her face, slightly creasing her perfect cheeks. 'I'll stay with you if you promise not to be friends with Sirius any more. He's the main person causing the trouble in our relationship, and the one encouraging other people to do so.' Venus' smile grew wider until it showed her perfect white teeth. James found he didn't need to hesitate, after all, who needs to hang out with Sirius? He smiled too. 'Done.' he whispered. Venus leant forward, and James got the snogging he'd come for. Unseen to his closed eyes, Venus' eyes twinkled with an immense satisfaction. They pulled apart, although they were still holding tightly to each other, not wanting to let go. 'What about the trust thing?' James asked. 'Who can we trust not to turn against us?' Venus smiled once more. 'Leave it to me.'

Sirius was up late, attempting to finish his overlarge mountain of homework from various subjects. Transfiguration was the main priority - Sirius did not want to get another detention from McGonagall. Not that he was bothered about detentions, it was just that James would definitely not have done his homework and having to spend more time around him would make him sick. If it was anything like last time, Venus would sneak into the room and start snogging James' face off. Disgusting. He was just finishing writing his conclusion for the Transfiguration essay when there was a tapping at the window. Sirius looked up to see what was, presumably, one of the school's post owls, hovering outside. He got up and opened the window, wondering who on earth would be receiving a letter at this time of the night. It was a shock to see his name on it, in purple ink and neat capital lettering. After picking up a nearby letter opener shaped like a lions claw, he opened and read the parchment inside.

_Dear Sirius,_

_I hope you are alright. I am Trust. I enclose a way for you to contact me, if you feel the need to talk. I am interested in talking to you. I have heard things about you. You might be interested to hear them._

_Remember - Trust is a Virtue!_

_Trust_

With the letter there was a piece of parchment, about 6 inches long and 5 inches wide. It felt heavier than normal parchment and Sirius could tell it was enchanted with powerful magic. He laid it on the table and studied it carefully. After a few minutes he straightened up. It appeared to him this was some sort of charm which meant he could communicate with this trust person, whoever they were. Who could they be? It was obviously someone who wanted to remain anonymous and also didn't know anything about virtue. Trust wasn't a virtue. It must be someone who was not particularly virtuous themselves, probably endowed in sin. Then it hit him. It must be James or Venus. Why else would someone try to coax him into talking to them? They probably wanted to find something out about what he thought of them or something….that was really sneaky and vindictive though, surely James wouldn't do that? But, said a little voice in the back of Sirius' mind, James is under Venus' control now, he would sink to that level. He'd started smoking, just like Venus. He'd become obsessed with sex, just like Venus. He'd become an arrogant twat, just like Venus.

Sirius held his head in his hands to try and stifle the emotion trying to escape from him. He'd lost his best friend to a bitch female dominatrix. How the hell did that happen? Sirius didn't know his best friend anymore. A friend who had yet to return from wherever he had gone that evening. What did James think about these days? Once it had been all pranks and Lily, but what was it now? An idea suddenly flashed into Sirius' head. James' diary. Sirius grabbed his belongings, including the mysterious piece of paper and shoved them precariously in his schoolbag. He rushed up to the dormitory, where both Remus and Peter were already asleep and carefully reached under James' mattress where he knew the diary was kept and pulled it out, careful to note its exact position. The diary was different to the last one Sirius had known. The last diary had been covered in green leather to signify Lily's eyes and also had pictures of Lily which James had taken without her knowledge. This new one however, was in purple leather with black writing and a single picture of what appeared to be Venus on the front. Feeling slightly nervous, Sirius took a deep breath and opened the book. On the front page was a profile, an 'about me' area. Sirius was not sure he could believe his eyes. In James' very own handwriting he saw…

_A Little About Me - I'm James and I'm in love with Venus - nothing else matters!_

_Favourite Things - Sex and Venus_

_Hobbies and Interests - Well, I spend a lot of time with Venus, so I guess my main interest is satisfying her._

Sirius slammed the diary shut and shoved it back under the mattress. He felt sick, absolutely disgusted. His once best friend only cared for one person in the entire world - Venus. He wasn't just besotted with Venus, he was absolutely obsessed. It was amazing that this hadn't turned into some Phantom of the Opera-esqe fixation, as far as he could tell. Hopefully it wouldn't. Sirius couldn't understand how you could care about someone so much as to abandon all your friends. They mattered too; you should never put your girlfriend above your friends. And then there was the Trust thing. What was that all about? Footsteps coming up to the dormitory distracted Sirius and he rushed to his four poster bed, climbing under the covers quickly. Next moment, James had strolled into the room, looking extremely pleased with himself. He walked over to his bed, ignoring Sirius, but then turned round to face him, a smile on his face. 'Oh you're awake, Sirius! Good. Just wanted to tell you. I don't want to be your friend anymore.' With that, he pulled the hangings around his bed, leaving Sirius to stare at the dark material.


	7. The Trust

I always forget this part...**Disclaimer**** -** I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters. They belong to J K Rowling, a very intelligent and talented person.

**The Episode - **_The Trust_

Days passed. James had moved away from Sirius in class to sit at the front with some male Ravenclaw friends of Venus'. It would appear he now enjoyed mocking Sirius and flicking rolls of parchment at him for amusement. A sniggering of laughter reached Sirius' ears during Transfiguration. All the Ravenclaws were peering round at him from their desk, their hands over their mouths to snuff out the noise as much as possible from the sharp ears of McGonagall. It seemed that James had told them something about Sirius, something that was supposed to be secret. A large rolled up ball of parchment later, which hit Sirius squarely on the nose, revealed it was about his favourite teddy bear - Edward. When Sirius had first started Hogwarts he had been inseparable from the bear at night, as he had a rather extreme fear of the dark inside the caste. Edward had been of much comfort to him - until he was confiscated by Filch when Sirius was caught out of bed after hours, sneaking to the kitchens to steal a chocolate éclair. He had cried for weeks, scared to sleep in case something attacked him. Eventually, James and Remus undertook to rescue the bear from Filch and his grimy hands. For this, Sirius was eternally grateful and Edward was now locked safely in his truck where he could not be kidnapped. Obviously, he had now grown out of his need for Edward, he was no longer afraid of the dark in any way. James, however, appeared to be portraying Sirius as still needing him. Which was not true.

Shrugging his shoulders, Sirius looked back to his work. He ignored the laughs and whispers until the bell rang, signifying the end of the lesson. At this point, he stuffed his parchment and quill carelessly into his bag and stalked out the room, aiming to reach Gryffindor Tower before anyone could catch him. A voice called to him as he walked determinedly away. 'Sirius…Sirius!' A glance behind told him it was Lily, although why she would want to talk to him was way beyond his expertise and brain power. 'What do you want?' he asked gruffly, not wanting to stand still for long in case he had to come face to face with James. 'Erm, well, I was wondering if I could talk to you. In private.' came the reply, which was of no comfort to Sirius at all. The reply sounded foreboding, like no good could come from it in any way whatsoever. 'Perhaps if we go for a walk outside?' Lily continued. She was obviously desperate to talk to him, although Sirius was still completely perplexed as to why. He nodded his head in agreement and followed her flowing red hair through the massive throng of students piling into the corridor, heading for dinner in the Great Hall. Sirius' stomach rumbled quietly as he smelt the delicious scent of the evenings meal, meat and potato pie by the smell of it, when he walked through the entrance hall. They walked outside and down to the lake, where there was not another student to be seen, and sat down under a large tree.

A few minutes passed in silence. Lily didn't seem to know what she wanted to say. She kept opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish. Finally, Sirius spoke. 'So, what's this about then?' Lily reached in her bag , pulled out a piece of blank parchment and turned to face him. 'Well, I received this by owl last night and I was wondering if you or James had anything to do with it. It's just, well, not that I'm accusing you or anything, but you're usually the ones who pull pranks, and this was really weird.' Sirius stared at the parchment. 'Did this person call themselves 'Trust' by any chance?' he asked, thinking this episode was becoming more and more complicated. Lily looked surprised at Sirius' question - it would appear she had expected him to laugh and admit his guilt straight off. 'Erm yeah, they did. Isn't it you or James? The questions made me think it was you…' she faltered, blushing slightly, as if embarrassed by whatever Trust had said. Now Sirius was certainly intrigued. 'What did they say to you?' he enquired. 'It's not me, but I don't know about James. In case you hadn't noticed, we haven't being hanging around with each other recently.'

'Yeah, I noticed that. I suppose you had a fall out? Anyway, the person was asking me how I felt about James and did I fancy him and stuff. I assumed it was you and James because everyone knows he fancied me…or used to anyway. His affections appear to have waned recently though and I can't really decide whether that's a good thing or not…This Trust person was talking about really private stuff that has happened but I don't tell people about. It was really unnerving.' Sirius didn't really know what to say. He was rubbish at heart-to-heart conversations and his advice was completely stupid at all times. At the end of the day, he made the worst Agony Uncle ever. 'Well,' he contemplated slowly, 'I haven't talked to the person yet, but I guessed last night that it was either Venus or James. Most probably Venus because I don't think James would ever be that manipulative. He wouldn't ask questions like that to you in that sort of manner. It would be more in your face 'do you fancy me' rather than a subtle, sneaky thing like Trust did. James doesn't know the meaning of subtlety.' Sirius studied Lily for a few moments, seeing the worry and upset on her face. He suddenly realised he was witnessing a sort of confession from Lily, that she did actually like James even though she'd pretended for almost 6 years to hate his guts. Now she was being hurt by Trust, which wasn't fair on her as she wasn't really involved in anything that was happening as far as Sirius knew. He decided to tell Lily what was happening.

A few hours later and Sirius was sat in the boy's dormitory, staring at the heavy, blank parchment he had received the night before. He had told Lily what had happened since James and Venus had started going out. She was fairly upset at hearing what James had said to both Sirius and Remus, but was glad she now knew what was going on. Lily hadn't been sure why James had been ignoring her, even when she said 'hi' on the corridors and in class. The thought had occurred to Sirius that perhaps the apparent involvement in Lily in all of this was a clue that it could be Venus. From what he had seen, Venus was a pretty insecure person and therefore it would seem like a good idea on her own part to find out what she could about the girl James had previously fancied with a passion, and perhaps even make sure she would never get him. Sirius was in two minds whether to try and contact the Trust person. On one hand, he reckoned he would be able to tell straight away whether it was James by the style of writing. On the other he didn't want to risk saying something which could trigger a backlash by mistake. If he was going to talk to them it would require his full concentration to avoid any momentary lapse. Temptation got the better of him. He picked up his quill, dipped it in his black inkpot and wrote.

**Hello Trust**. The reply was fairly quick, which suggested the person had been waiting for him to write.

_Hello Sirius_

**So, why have you decided to contact me?**

_Well, I've heard interesting things about you from people. I wanted to find out whether they were true or not._

**Like what?**

_I was very amused by the fact that you don't like your best friend's new girlfriend._

**I don't hate her, who said that? I never have.**

_It's common knowledge._

**Funny, you would have thought I would have heard of it if it was. **

_It's the talk of the common room, your 'falling out'._

**You're talking bullshit.**

The talk went on this way for about an hour, Sirius never letting his guard down, his focus equating to that of a dog about to pounce on a rabbit. After hearing that 'some people' thought he was an arrogant bastard, Sirius was beginning to tire of whoever he was talking to. They were obviously just stirring trouble, trying to initiate discord between him and his friends as suspicion fell around them. Their use of the words 'trust is a virtue', although not technically accurate, had some truth in them. As much as Sirius hated to admit it. He was even beginning to doubt Lily's innocence in everything, suspecting she could be behind all this and talking to him was just a mask for what she was doing. He didn't know who to trust.

The next day, Sirius and Lily, accompanied by Remus held a quiet conference in the library. Remus, it had transpired, had also received a piece of parchment from the Trust person, talked to them and was extremely worried. The person had known Remus was a werewolf, which shortened the possibilities of who it was considerably. Sirius was still certain it was not James - the style of writing did not suit his normal language use. Plus, James had entered the dormitory, and ignored Sirius, when he was writing on the parchment. Therefore it couldn't be him. 'I suppose James could have told Venus that you were a werewolf Remus…' Sirius had suggested tentatively. 'He is wrapped around her little finger…' All this was said without the presence of Lily as she didn't know Remus was a werewolf, and the last thing needed right now was everyone to know his secret. A long discussion later, under the pretence of discussing the latest charms homework whenever anyone walked by, it was decided the most likely candidate to be Trust was Venus. Now all that had to happen was for them to confront her about it.

* * *

_As often happens with my stories, I got bored and couldn't be bothered finishing this one. One day, maybe, I'll write the ending. :-)_

_azi_


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